New Accessible Walks Scheme for Northern Ireland

The Venture Outdoors – Creating Healthy Community team has worked in partnership with WalkNI.com – your definitive guide to walking in Northern Ireland to launch an Accessible Walks Scheme in Northern Ireland.

“The Accessible Walks Scheme will act as a uniform method of assessing the accessibility of walks within Northern Ireland.  The aim of the scheme is not to define people or their abilities by dictating which walks are suitable, but to provide people with mobility issues with enough information to make an informed decision,” explained Claire Overend, Venture Outdoors Development Officer.

Over 240 Quality Walks on WalkNI.com have been assessed by WalkNI.com’s Volunteer Rangers.  Using this new scheme the volunteers have classified walks into grades according to the accessibility of features along the route. Each walk has attained  a grade between 1-5, with grade 1 being the most accessible and grade 5 being the least accessible.

Features taken into consideration include path surface, width and gradient, cross slope, obstacles, surface breaks, clear head height, passing places and rest area.

Although the facilities along the route do not directly affect its accessibility, extra information has been provided on the accessibility of facilities along the route which will add to the trail users experience such as cafes, shops, visitors’ centres and disabled toilets.

Unfortunately there are currently no Grade 1 walks in Northern Ireland; this is something Venture Outdoors and WalkNI.com are working with land managers to rectify.  However a good example of a Grade 2 walk is Bann Boulevard, a flat, linear riverside walk in Portadown.  The path is mostly uniform but in parts drops away to the water edge.  The tarmac path is ideal for wheelchair users, battery powered mobility scooters and child pushchairs.    

Venture Outdoors would like to thank the steering group who advised on the development of the Accessible Walks Scheme including Disability Action, Disability Sports NI, Disabled Ramblers, Local District Councils, Mencap, Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities (NICEM), Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA).

For more information on Bann Boulevard and other accessible walks in Northern Ireland check out www.walkni.com